Echoes and Silences: Reading Ishiguro Across Time, 10 weeks, GAYLEY
F 2026

Description

Kazuo Ishiguro, a British novelist and recipient of both the Booker Prize (1989) and Nobel Prize in Literature (2017), is renowned for exploring the fragile boundaries between memory and imagination.

This ten week SDG examines how Ishiguro’s understated prose reveals profound moral reflection and quiet emotional depth.

We will read three of his novels—A Pale View of Hills (his debut, exploring the unreliability of memory, trauma, and self deception); Never Let Me Go (a profound parable about mortality); and The Remains of the Day  (a poignant study of duty, purpose, and self worth).

In addition, we will view the film Living, for which Ishiguro was the Oscar nominated screenwriter, sample his short story collection Nocturnes, and conclude with his Nobel Prize lecture.

Join us in discussing Ishiguro’s haunting vision of what it means to remember, to serve, and, ultimately, to live.


Weekly Topics

Week 1: A Pale View of the Hills: Part 1

Week 2: A Pale View of the Hills: Part 2

Week 3: Never Let Me Go, Chapters 1-9

Week 4: Never Let Me Go, Chapters 10-17

Week 5: Never Let Me Go, Chapters 18-end

Week 6: Film: Living

Week 7: Nocturns: Come Rain or Shine; & Cellists

Week 8: Remains of the Day: Prologue & Chapters 1-2

Week 9: Remains of the Day: Chapters 3-5

Week 10: Remains of the Day: Chapters 6-7; and Ishiguro Nobel Lecture


Bibliography

Kazuo Ishiguro, A Pale View of the Hills, First Vintage International Edition (Penguin Random House) 1982

Kazuo Ishigura, Never Let Me Go, Vintage 2006

Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day, Vintage International (Random House) 1990

Kazuo Ishiguro, Nocturnes, Vintage International (Penguin Random House) 2010

Film: Living, Released Dec 23, 2022

Ishiguro Nobel Lecture, 2017